On December 25, 2011, while on the way home from the last of the Christmas parties, full of Aunt Claire’s sausage-and-onion stuffing and Uncle Frank’s Irish Coffee, I decided that wasn't good enough. In fact, it was about 23 minutes and 32 seconds from good enough according to Boston 2013. And so, counted among my resolutions to buy a curling iron (done); to jump more and fear less; to run over 1,500 miles in 2012; and to pay one good thing forward a week, you will find “Qualify for Boston 2013” highlighted in yellow in the middle of the page with the following lyrics scribble-wrapping it up:
"And I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice."
And so it was decided. At 8:46PM on Christmas night, I resolved to train harder, push farther and use the time I had to achieve the time of my life. After a calorie induced sleep, I woke on December 26, 2011 as if it was New Years Day and clean slates abounded. I bundled up, ran 7 miles hard over the Ben Franklin Bridge to prove to myself that I had some fight left and did what any runner looking to transition from hobbyist to athlete would do: I emailed my high school track coach with “I need to (1) shave off 23 minutes from my time to qualify for Boston and (2) know that this is possible,” to which he replied “I’m all in.”
What I find comforting about that answer is that it’s based solely on his knowledge of who I am; rather, who I was when I walked off of his track in 1999. From the man that trained me, cross trained me, taught me to lift and not to lift, applauded me and made me cry, shouted across a track, followed me on a bike and pushed me without worrying if I’d have a teenage-girl-meltdown, this matter-of-fact confidence was exactly what I needed.
30 miles per week, pilates, lifting twice a week and yoga is me in my off season.
Motivational emails aside, this guy, this dream and the next 11 months are surely going to be no joke. With that, Chapter Two will leave Chapter One’s injuries behind, square its hips and charge North, to Boston.
you can absolutely do it. i shaved 30 minutes off (in marathons 6 to 9) and finally qualified last september. i made it through the craziness of registration and was accepted into Boston 2012.
ReplyDeletefunny, while i was waiting to see if my boston registration was accepted i kept hear that boston song you mention above. i kept thinking it was a sign...and i was right :)
good luck!!! you can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. i told myself this over and over throughout training.
Jen!!!! Love it!! You can totally do it!! My only question is why wait a year?? There are a lot of other marathons with great courses that are also conducive to qualifying for Boston...
ReplyDeleteI got dibs on the next book!!!!!
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